Old School has some good laughs, enough to make you overlook a familiar story.
When Mitch Martin (Luke Wilson) breaks up with his girlfriend and moves into a house located near the campus of Harrison University, he gets roped into hosting wild parties in his new home by his old buddies Frank "The Tank" Ricard (Will Ferrell) and Bernard Campbell (Vince Vaughn). To appease the crusty old Dean (Jeremy Piven) and show him who's what, they decide to turn their place into a legitimate fraternity house.
If you’ve seen a decent assortment of comedies, you’ve seen this story before. The dean that frowns at our party-goers, the cautious main character who gets pulled in way over his head by his wild buddies, the hot crush with the jerk boyfriend, the insane fraternity that everyone wants to join. Old School became a bit of a cult film since its release so it spawned a wave of imitators but even then, this had been done prior to 2003. What saves it is the actors, many of which blew up after this. Their chemistry, willingness to go all the way, and their natural comedic chops ensured the film had legs.
Old School may be predictable but that doesn’t mean it isn’t funny. Vince Vaughn can often be irritating, as he essentially plays an exaggerated version of himself every time. Here, he delivers a zinger or outrageous one-liner, and then he's gone. No time to overstay his welcome. Same thing for Will Ferrell. His character’s degeneration into a party animal is broken up just enough that he stays consistently funny. To balance them out, we have Luke Wilson. He’s funny, but more because he is constantly exasperated, not because he’s a wild man like Frank or because he’s a vulgar, angry person like Bernard. He’s a guy that just wants to be peaceful and work things out in a civilized manner but gets caught up in this storm of insanity by his buddies. It’s a nice balance overall.
Then we’ve got the pledges and the tasks they're forced to do in order to join the fraternity - plenty of wild antics there. Just as an event wraps up, a party begins. The movie is basically one skit after another, with the plot of the dean serving as a way to give us a conclusion but that’s alright. The laughs fill in the cracks that would make the foundation crumble.
Old School is the kind of film that is best enjoyed when the end of high school is nearing or you’re newly enrolled in college. Watch it during that window and it’ll become a favorite. Afterward, it’s “merely” a funny movie.
